Sausage product and corresponding sausage casing

ABSTRACT

A sausage product has a sausage casing closed at the ends and a sausage contents contained in the sausage casing. The sausage casing has an opening element that, when actuated, opens the sausage casing in the area of the opening element. The opening element is arranged such on the sausage casing that the sausage casing is opened by the opening element in a direction substantially transverse to a longitudinal sausage axis of the sausage product.

The invention relates to a sausage product comprising a sausage casing,closed at its ends and containing sausage contents, as well as acorresponding sausage casing. Independent of possible food law labeling,the term sausage product in the context of the invention is not to beunderstood to mean exclusively meat-containing products but all productsproduced in a corresponding sausage shape.

In the case of conventional sausage products, the sausage contents isfilled into a sausage casing and the sausage casing that is either anatural sausage casing or an artificial foodstuff casing is closed atits ends usually by a clip, respectively, or by tying a knot or thelike. For opening the sausage product or the sausage, an aid, usually aknife or scissors, must be used in order to cut open the sausage casingor to cut off a sausage end directly. Since the employed sausage casingsshould not become accidentally damaged, they are made to be very strong.In particular, artificial sausage casings are subject during processingfor manufacturing sausage products to high mechanical requirements andare designed to ensure maximum protection of the sausage contents. Theyare therefore designed to have high mechanical and physical strength sothat very sharp and pointed knives are to be used for separating andopening the sausage casing; for this purpose, the customarily employedsilverware is not sufficient. Accordingly, there is a risk of injury inparticular in the case of children and elderly consumers. Moreover,sausages cannot be consumed on the go, for example, when there is nosuitable opening aid at hand.

It is an object of the present intention to provide a sausage or acorresponding sausage casing that can be opened in a simple way withoutadditional opening aids. This object is solved according to the presentintention by a sausage product having the features of claim 1 or by acorresponding sausage casing.

By providing the sausage casing itself with an opening element whoseactuation enables a targeted opening of the sausage casing in the areaof the opening element, additional opening aids, in particular, knives,are no longer needed. In this connection, the sausage casing with theopening element must be completely closed before opening because thesausage contents can easily spoil. Well-known so-called tear strips, forexample, those on chewing gum packages, are not suitable because thepackaging is already provided with an opening, even though a small one,in the area of the beginning of the strip.

Preferably, the opening element has a free grip area and a tearing areathat is fixedly connected to the sausage casing. The free grip areaserves in this connection for providing easy handling and the tearingarea entrains a portion of the sausage casing when opening the sausagecasing. It is specially advantageous to employ materials, so-calledisotropic materials, for the sausage casing that have an excellenttear-off propagation in the transverse and longitudinal directions. Inthis connection, when opening by means of the opening element thesausage casing can be removed spirally in strips so that always only somuch sausage contents is exposed as is to be consumed.

For simplifying the opening action, in order not to expose the entiresausage contents at once, the opening element is arranged preferablysuch on the sausage casing that its actuation effects opening of thesausage casing substantially transversely to a longitudinal axis of thesausage. The longitudinal sausage axis is to be understood preferably asthe elongate extension axis of the sausage, usually also the fillingdirection of the sausage casing, independent of whether it is straightor bent as in the case of a natural sausage casing.

Expediently, the opening element is to be provided near the end of thesausage so that upon opening there are not several portions of thesausage exposed in addition to the end piece that is to be consumedimmediately. In order to prevent that the opening element is ripped offentirely by accident, it should be connected fixedly to the sausagecasing. This can be realized, in particular, by gluing or welding butalso by other joining techniques.

Further advantages and details result from the dependent claims and theembodiments illustrated in the drawing that will be explained in thefollowing. It is shown in:

FIG. 1 opening of a conventional sausage product;

FIG. 2 a sausage product according to the invention with openingelement;

FIG. 3 the article of FIG. 2 without the opening element;

FIG. 4 the article of FIG. 2 while being opened;

FIG. 5 the bottom side of the opening element of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 an opening element of a different embodiment;

FIG. 7 an opening element in yet another embodiment;

FIG. 8 a section of the opening element of FIG. 7 in the directionVIII-VIII;

FIG. 9 a sausage in section with a different opening element;

FIG. 10 a plan view onto the opening element of FIG. 9 in the directionX;

FIG. 11 the article of FIG. 9 while being opened;

FIG. 12 another embodiment of the article of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 a plan view onto the opening element of FIG. 12 in the directionXIII;

FIG. 14 the article of FIG. 12 while being opened;

FIG. 15 a sausage product according to the invention with a differentopening element; and

FIG. 16 a section of the opening element of FIG. 15 in the directionXVI-XVI.

The sausage illustrated in FIG. 1 is a conventional sausage product witha sausage casing 1 into which sausage contents has been filled. Usually,the sausage casing 1 is originally a tube that is closed at both ends 2with a clip that is not illustrated. For opening a conventional sausage,a knife 3 is usually employed, as illustrated in FIG. 1, with which oneend of the sausage is cut off.

FIG. 2 shows a sausage according to the invention whose sausage casing 1has an opening element 4 that is arranged as closely as possible next toone sausage end 2. The opening element is embodied like a pull tab andis connected to the sausage casing 1, in particular, by gluing, possiblyalso by e.g. welding. In one embodiment illustrated in particular inFIG. 3, the sausage casing 1 is pre-damaged in the area of the openingelement, not illustrated in FIG. 3, at the position identified at 5. Asillustrated, this pre-damage 5 is configured preferably like an arrowhead, wherein the arrow head extends transversely to the longitudinalaxis 6 of the sausage so that tearing of the sausage casing 1 during theopening action is realized also in the direction transverse to thelongitudinal axis 6. The pre-damage 5 can be a weakened portion, forexample, by reduction of wall thickness, of the sausage casing 1 butalso a complete perforation of the sausage casing 1, i.e., a dottedseparation or a cut. Particularly in the case of a pre-damage 5 withseparation of the sausage casing 1, it must be ensured that the sausagecontents does not spoil. For this purpose, the opening element 4 can bearranged such across the pre-damage, particularly by gluing, that itcompletely covers and closes the pre-damage 5.

FIG. 4 shows the opening process of the sausage illustrated in FIGS. 2and 3 wherein a grip area 7 of the opening element 4 has been pulled. Indoing so, a tearing area 8 fixedly connected to the sausage casing 1will tear open the sausage casing 1 at the pre-damage 5. By means of theopening element 4, a strip 9 of the sausage casing 1 can then be tornoff having a width that matches essentially the width of pre-damage 5and can be peeled off the sausage spirally so that as much sausagecontents 10 as desired is exposed.

FIG. 5 shows the bottom side of the opening element 4 of FIGS. 2 and 4that is facing the sausage casing. In this connection, the tearing area8 is coated with an adhesive and the grip area 7 is free and notdirectly connected to the sausage casing so that the opening element 4can be lifted off by it. The grip area 7 can also be provided with aneasily releasable adhesion action relative to the sausage casing 1.

FIGS. 6 through 14 illustrate other embodiments of the opening element4. These embodiments can be used also without a pre-damage of thesausage casing 1.

The opening element 4 of FIG. 6 is designed such that a connection tothe sausage casing is realized in a way that favors a targeted damagingof the sausage casing. For this purpose, an area of strongly adheringadhesive 11 is applied in the tearing area 8 and tapers pointedly towardthe grip area 7. Its adhesive force on the sausage casing is so strongthat it surpasses the tearing resistance of the sausage casing.Preferably, the other tearing area 8 as illustrated in FIG. 6 can beprovided with an adhesive 12 of reduced adhesive force 12 that securesthe opening element 4 as a whole on the sausage casing.

In the embodiment according to the invention illustrated in FIGS. 7through 14, the opening element 4 comprises a damaging tool 13. Asillustrated in the embodiment according to FIG. 7 and 8, it is providedat its edges facing the grip area 7 with sharp edges, in particular,with individual tips 15 that can penetrate the sausage casing.Preferably, the damaging tool 13 is provided at the bottom side of theopening element 4 facing the sausage casing. However, it can also beprovided on its top side wherein the edges or tips are then configuredto be so sharp that they are able to penetrate also the opening element4 itself. In a particularly simple and inexpensive way, the damagingtool 13 can be produced especially as an injection-molded or stampedplastic piece or, for example, a sheet metal piece with an edge that isangled in the direction toward the sausage casing.

In the manufacturing process, the opening element 4 of FIG. 7 can beapplied onto the sausage casing 1 filled with sausage contents 10 suchthat the resulting damage of the sausage casing 1 by impressing thedamaging tool 13 of the opening element 4 is immediately hygienicallyclosed across the remaining tearing area 8 without this causing hygienicimpairments. However, it is also possible to connect the opening element4 without applying pressure onto the damaging tool 13 such to thesausage casing 1 that the sausage casing 1 remains initially intact. Inthis way, only upon opening the sausage by applying pressure onto anarea of the opening element 4, in which the damaging tool 13 is arrangedand that is preferably marked accordingly, the sausage casing 1 isdamaged in a targeted way and subsequently torn open by the openingelement 4.

FIGS. 9 through 14 show additional products with opening elements 4 withdamaging tools 13 in which the opening element 4 is at least partiallyembodied as a bending-resistant lever. In FIGS. 9 through 11, theopening element 4 surrounds the sausage like a partial ring. A portion16 is fixedly connected to the sausage casing 1. A movable portion 17 ispreferably pivotably joined to this portion 16. By lifting the movableportion 17 at its end that is embodied as a grip area 7, thespike-shaped damaging tool 13 penetrates the sausage casing 1 asillustrated in FIG. 11 and opens it.

FIGS. 12 through 14 show another embodiment variant but with a similarfunction as disclosed in connection with FIGS. 9 through 11. In bothcases the opening element is preferably a unitary part, in particular, aplastic part. In this connection, the movability or hinge action of themovable portion 17 can be achieved preferably by a film hinge 18.

In both embodiments, the movable portion 17 can be secured againstaccidental actuation. This can be realized, for example, in that thegrip area 7 of the movable portion 17 is secured by means of a lightlyadhering adhesive on the sausage casing 1 or relative to the remainingpart of the opening element 4. Also, the opening element 4 can beprovided with a kind of seal that serves at the same time as a fixationand indicates that the opening element 4 has not been actuated. Such aseal could be formed, in particular, in the case of a plastic element,by thin stays that are broken upon actuation. These stays in theembodiment according to FIG. 10 can be provided in the gap identified at20 between the damaging tool 13 and the fixed portion 16 of the openingelement 4. In the case of the opening tool of FIG. 12 the connection orthe seal embodied as a rated break point is provided preferably at therear end 22 between the fixed portion 16 and the movable portion 17.

FIGS. 15 and 16 show another embodiment of the opening element 4. It ispreferably of a monolithic configuration and is embodied substantiallyin a bending-resistant way. The grip area 7 is rigidly connected to thetearing area 8 and forms therewith a lever. In this connection, thetearing area 8 functions as a lever in addition to the function oftearing open the sausage casing. The tearing area 8, in contrast to thegrip area 7, is connected to the sausage casing 1 by means of a stronglyadhering adhesive 11. Because of the lever action a significantlyreduced force expenditure is required for opening the sausage casing 1by means of the opening element 4.

The end 23 of the opening element 4 opposite the grip area 7 is rounded.Upon actuation of the opening element 4, this rounded end area 23functions as a contact surface on the sausage casing 1. As a result ofthe rounded portion the sausage casing does not tear in this area buttears between the grip area 7 and the tearing area 8. In thisembodiment, a weakening of the sausage casing 1 in this area is possibleby a pre-damage, a thinner material and the like, but this is notmandatory.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, the opening element 4 has a curvature thatfollows the contour of the sausage product and is substantially matchedto the shape or caliber of the sausage product. In this way, accidentalactuation of the opening element 4, for example, by getting caught onobjects in the surroundings, is prevented. It is also possible in thisway to package several such sausage products closer together.

The opening element 4 is preferably essentially rectangular with roundedcorners. Depending on the shape of the sausage product and the employedmaterial for the sausage casing 1 or the opening element 4, atrapezoidal or triangular configuration of the opening elements 4, eachwith rounded corners, can also be expedient in order to obtain a greaterwidth of the end area 23 serving as a contact surface relative to thewidth of the leading end area 24 of the opening element for the purposeof an optimal force distribution.

In order to be able to provide a sufficient contact force upon actuationof the opening element 4 and in order to prevent penetration of thetearing area 8 into the sausage product, the width B of the openingelement 4 on the end of the tearing area 8 opposite the grip area 7 isadvantageously greater than 5 mm and preferably 10 to 30 mm. The softerthe sausage material of the sausage product, the greater the contactsurface or the width B should be. Also, the length of the tearing area 8is advantageously longer than 4 mm and is preferably 5 to 15 mm. Inorder to obtain a sufficient lever action, the ratio of length of thetearing area 8 to the grip area 7 is preferably smaller or equal to 3and preferably 0.5 to 2.

As a whole, the sausage product according to the invention ischaracterized by easy and safe handling.

1-26. (canceled)
 27. A sausage product comprising: a sausage casingclosed at opposed ends; sausage contents contained in the sausagecasing; the sausage casing having an opening element that, whenactuated, opens the sausage casing in the area of the opening element.28. The sausage product according to claim 27, wherein the sausagecasing is comprised of a material adapted to be torn in all directions.29. The sausage product according to claim 27, wherein the openingelement is arranged such on the sausage casing that the sausage casingis opened by the opening element in a direction substantially transverseto a longitudinal sausage axis of the sausage product.
 30. The sausageproduct according to claim 27, wherein the opening element is arrangednear one of the opposed ends.
 31. The sausage product according to claim27, wherein the opening element is fixedly connected to the sausagecasing by gluing or welding.
 32. The sausage product according to claim27, wherein the sausage casing has a pre-damage in the area of theopening element.
 33. The sausage product according to claim 32, whereinthe pre-damage is a perforation that is substantially arrowhead-shaped.34. The sausage product according to claim 32, wherein the pre-damage isclosed by the opening element.
 35. The sausage product according toclaim 27, wherein the opening element comprises a free grip area and atearing area, wherein the tearing area is fixedly connected by aconnecting means to the sausage casing.
 36. The sausage productaccording to claim 35, wherein the connecting means is an adhesive thatis coated on a side of the tearing area facing the sausage casing. 37.The sausage product according to claim 35, wherein the connecting meanshas a shape that assists in a targeted damaging and opening of thesausage casing.
 38. The sausage product according to claim 35, whereinthe connecting means is shaped to taper pointedly toward the grip area.39. The sausage product according to claim 35, wherein the connectingmeans is designed to be stronger than an initial tearing resistance ofthe sausage casing.
 40. The sausage product according to claim 35,wherein the grip area is rigidly connected to the tearing area.
 41. Thesausage product according to claim 27, wherein the opening elementcomprises a damaging tool.
 42. The sausage product according to claim41, wherein the opening element has a bottom side that is facing thesausage casing and wherein the damaging tool is arranged on the bottomside.
 43. The sausage product according to claim 41, wherein thedamaging tool is at least partially sharp-edged; pointed; or at leastpartially sharp-edged and pointed.
 44. The sausage product according toclaim 41, wherein the damaging tool is comprised of a plastic part or asheet metal part, wherein the plastic part or the sheet metal part hasat least one edge that is angled in a direction toward the sausagecasing.
 45. The sausage product according to claim 41, wherein theopening element has a first portion fixedly connected to the sausagecasing and a second portion comprising the damaging tool, wherein thesecond portion is movably connected to the first portion for actuatingthe damaging tool.
 46. The sausage product according to claim 45,wherein the second portion is secured against accidental actuation. 47.The sausage product according to claim 45, wherein the first portion isa unitary part of the second portion.
 48. The sausage product accordingto claim 27, wherein the opening element is a monolithic part and issubstantially bending-resistant.
 49. The sausage product according toclaim 27, wherein the opening element has a curvature that followssubstantially a contour of the sausage product and is substantiallymatched to the shape of the sausage product.
 50. The sausage productaccording to claim 27, wherein the opening element has a blunt edge oris rounded in areas that contact the sausage casing during actuation ofthe opening element.
 51. The sausage product according to claim 27,wherein the opening element is substantially rectangular with roundedcorners.
 52. A sausage casing for a sausage product according to claim27.